Private jets funded by the British taxpayer are being used to fly home failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals.
Figures obtained under freedom of information laws reveal that the Home Office spent £14 million in the 18 months to June on chartered aircraft, with scheduled flights thought to cost an additional £30 million.
The Daily Mail reports that one flight for a lone Moroccan deportee, Younes Tsouli, cost about £250,000. Once described as al-Qaeda’s most influential cyber-terrorist, he was jailed for 16 years in 2007.
In another instance an entire aircraft was hired to return 11 illegal immigrants to Kabul and 25 Nigerians were taken home on a 265-seat plane.
The revelation comes only days after it emerged that a £3,000 Hummer stretched limousine was used to transport refugees from Heathrow to Manchester.
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More than 50 private jets have been used to carry 2,892 deportees, working out at an average of 53 per plane and £5,000 per passenger.
Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said: “These are astonishing figures for a government department that is facing huge cuts.
“A half-empty flight is a waste of money and shows a woeful lack of competence and organisation. Ministers really need to get a grip.”
Each specially chartered plane is estimated to cost about £250,000. Destinations have included Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jamaica, Nigeria and Albania.
The flights often carry two or three immigration and security officers for each passenger in case of trouble in the air, and can some times be used to carry officials as well.
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Nearly 40,000 people were removed from the UK or left voluntarily after proceedings to remove them began last year. In October 2014 a report by the National Audit Office revealed a £1 billion a year failure to control the country’s borders and deport foreign criminals.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Those with no right to be in the UK should return home.
“We expect and will help people to leave the country voluntarily. Where they do not, we will seek to enforce their departure.
“When returning people, we always consider the availability of scheduled aircraft routes, the cost of maintaining their detention, and the individual circumstances of each case.
“Charter flights are used to return illegal immigrants to destinations which have a limited number of scheduled flights or where scheduled flights have an insufficient capacity to meet demand. In general, they are used to remove those with a history of non-compliance or who pose a risk to the public.
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“We have legislated to make it harder for people to lodge spurious appeals and will go further in our new immigration bill.”